1. Field of the Inventions
The present invention generally relates to a terminal unit, such as a POS (Point-of-Sale) terminal unit, and more particularly to a terminal unit in which commodity information input therein can be converted into a bar code and vice versa.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in stores, in order to register information (including names, identification codes, unit prices, quantity and the like) on commodities bought by customers, POS (Point-of-Sales) terminal units have been used. The POS terminal units print the information on receipt papers and journal papers and transmit the information to a host computer. The information processed day the POS terminal units is referred to as transaction information. The transaction information includes commodity information and other information regarding the transaction. The commodity information may include a commodity name, an identification code of a commodity, a unit price of a commodity, a number of commodities of each kind and consumption tax. Other information may include a total price, a date, a name of an operator of a POS terminal unit, a commodity dealing department and an identification number of a POS terminal unit.
If incorrect commodity information (e.g. the unit price of a commodity or the quantity of a commodity) is registered by a POS terminal unit by mistake so that a receipt paper on which the incorrect commodity information has been printed is given to a customer, the registered incorrect commodity information must be corrected. In this case, in order to correct the incorrect commodity information which has been registered, an operator manually inputs, with reference to the transaction information on the receipt paper, the incorrect commodity information into the POS terminal unit by using a keyboard.
In a host computer coupled to a plurality of POS terminal units, transaction data items including information about commodities transmitted from the POS terminal units are aggregated. In this system formed of the POS terminal units and the host computer, if a trouble occurs in the host computer, the above transaction data items can not be aggregated in the host computer. In this case, transaction data items printed on journal papers in the respective POS terminal units are used as backup data. That is, the transaction data items are manually input, with reference to the journal papers, into the POS terminal units.
In the conventional POS terminal unit, as has been described above, to correct registered information and to aggregate transaction data items in place of the host computer, transaction data items must be manually input with reference to receipt papers or journal papers. Thus, input errors may easily occur.
In addition, for example, the following service for customers has been proposed.
In the host computer, transaction information supplied from the POS terminal units is aggregated for each customer having a membership card. When an aggregate request is input to a POS terminal unit along with a membership number identifying a customer, transaction information which has been aggregated for the customer is transmitted from the host computer to the POS terminal unit. The aggregated transaction information for the customer is printed by the POS terminal unit and the printout is given to the customer. The customer can use the printout as accounts for himself (herself). This service is referred to as an accounts supply service.
However, to provide this accounts supply service, the aggregated transaction information for each customer must be usually stored in a storage unit of the host computer. In addition, a customer not having a membership card can not obtain the accounts supply service.
Accordingly, a general object of the present invention is to provide a novel and useful terminal unit, such as a POS terminal unit, in which the disadvantages of the aforementioned prior art are eliminated.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a terminal unit capable of printing out commodity information, which has been registered, having a form which can be easily input to the terminal unit.
The above objects of the present invention are achieved by a terminal unit, to which commodity information is input, for processing input commodity information, the commodity information being information regarding one or a plurality of commodities in a transaction, the terminal unit comprising: first conversion means for converting transaction information including at least the input commodity information into information corresponding to a bar code, the transaction information being information regarding the transaction of one or a plurality of commodities; and bar code printing means for printing the bar code on a sheet based on the information obtained by the first conversion means.
According to the present invention, sine the commodity information is printed on a recording paper as a bar code, the commodity information can be easily input to the terminal unit by scanning the bar code.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a terminal unit capable of easily processing target commodity information items which have been input therein.
The above object of the present invention is achieved by a terminal unit further including reading means for optically reading the bar code, printed on the recording sheet, representing the transaction information and for outputting the transaction information represented by the bar code, the transaction information being processed by the terminal unit.
According to the present invention, target commodity information items which have been input to the terminal unit can be easily obtained by optically reading the bar code, printed on the recording sheet, representing the transaction information including the target commodity information items. As a result, the target commodity information items which have been input to the terminal unit can be easily processed.
For example, the target commodity information can be easily corrected by using the transaction information obtained by the reading means.
Further, the target commodity information can be easily aggregated by using the transaction information obtained by the reading means.
In addition, the aggregate result may be printed out on a recording sheet. The aggregate result may be also transmitted to a host unit coupled to the terminal unit.